Around The World On $80

Jules Vernes adventure story, Around the World in 80 Days, stimulated the imagination of 26-year-old Robert Christopher.

“Why,” he asked himself, “can’t I go around the world on $80.”

Bob’s first step was to list all the problems that he would face. His second step was to note all possible solutions.

His third step was to take action!

He started by signing a contract with the Charles Pfizer Company, a large pharmaceutical company, to collect soil samples from the various countries that he planned to visit. Next he secured an international driver’s license, obtained maps in return for a proposed report on Middle East road conditions, acquired seamen’s papers, and secured a letter from the New York Police Department to show that he had no criminal record. Then he took care of his boarding by arranging for a youth hostel membership. His final step was to talk a freight airline into flying him over the Atlantic in return for photographs which could be used for company publicity.

Bob left New York City with $80 in his pocket.

He used his wits to travel around the world in 86 days.

He saved money by breakfasting free in Gander, Newfoundland, by photographing the cooks in a hotel kitchen. He also traveled free by bus from Syria to Damascus by taking pictures of a Syrian policeman who then ordered a bus driver to transport Bob. And he used the same idea to travel free from Baghdad to Teheran. This time he took pictures of the staff of the Iraq Express Transportation Company.

Another idea he used to get free or inexpensive travel was to use cigarettes as a medium of exchange. He bought four cartons of American cigarettes in Shannon, Ireland, for $4.80. He used one carton to pay someone to drive him from Paris to Vienna. And he used four cigarette packs to pay a train conductor fro a trip from Vienna to Switzerland through the Alps.

Besides cigarettes, Bob also used maps as a medium of exchange. In Bangkok, the owner of an expensive restaurant fed him in exchange for a a set of maps and a detailed description of a specific area that Bob had traveled through.

Bob finally came home to the U.S. as a crew member of the S.S. Flying Spray, which transported him from Japan to San Francisco.

Bob proved to himself that any given aim could be accomplished if he had faith in it.

Robert Christopher set himself an apparently impossible task. He wanted to challenge himself. He wanted to prove that he could do anything he set his mind to doing. He used organized thinking, exercised initiative, self-discipline, and creative vision, and acted with faith and confidence.

In your own life, you can do apparently impossible things as well if you can organize your thinking, and exercise initiative, self-discipline, and creative vision, and act with faith and confidence.

Above all, refuse to believe in the impossible. You can do anything you want once you set your mind on it and follow through with a positive plan.

Believe in your dreams and make them real by trying out all possible options. When you’re sufficiently motivated to do something—no matter how impossible it may seem—your mind will create ways to convert your dreams into reality.

Saleem Rana got his masters in psychotherapy. His articles on the internet have inspired over ten thousand people from around the world. Discover how to create a remarkable life
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